The Parting of Ways
by Valkyrie Elysia
Summary: Part of 'Tea Party' and 'What Little Girls Plan' universe. Friendships don't last forever and Seto is the one to talk to his daughter after her fallout with Victoire, to remind her she is not alone.


**V.E.: Well, I tried to write the next chapter of Mummy Reborn, and while I do have an idea what I want to do for that chapter, I am unfortunately stuck there with writer's block. I did say before that was an incredibly tough story.**

**So I decided to go for another one shot. And I am currently starting this with NO IDEA what I'm doing.**

**AND now I've got it. I think. Well, by the time you're reading this I'll have figured out the title and then the story will be pretty well defined.**

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Seto Kaiba never thought he would find himself in _this_ position; standing outside his daughters door and torn between whether to knock or not.

Over the years, he had grown to _tolerate _certain things. It had been stated quite frequently how the CEO had mellowed with fatherhood and age. He could tolerate the trace amounts of antagonism his cousin-in-law held for him (and if he's completely honest with himself, the feeling is mutual). He could tolerate with Yugi and his friends in a conversation so long as the supernatural elements of his teenage high school years stayed out of the conversation. And he had grown to tolerate Ziegfried von Schroeder's daughter being friends, to be truthfully honest the idea of them not being close had been a dream he had not indulged in years.

But never did he actually expect this to happen.

It all started when he had gotten a call from his wife during his meeting in Kyoto. He had given his daughter permission to host a _small_ party with no alcohol and adult supervision. Victoire had come over with her father and had been dropped off at the house will the pink haired elder man was dealing with business in Tokyo.

Even with those conditions, he still felt uneasy. He tried to reassure himself as he was on the drive to the airport, with all those conditions it would be hard to get something as nearly as bad as what he had heard about from other parents. What was the worst that could possibly happen?

(Somewhere in the back of his mind, he forgot that Candace was his daughter and friends with the Adam Moto and Caleb Wheeler, therefore she was a trouble magnet. It was a miracle she had lived as much of a quiet life as she had so far.)

The worst situations had ran through his mind before he had put the phone to his ear, to have himself breathe easy when his wife reassured him that no natural or sabotage had taken place. That just left him confused until Kisara went on to the party. Once again, the images crept into his mind, but shut down as soon as he heard the strangest thing ever.

Apparently, during the party, Candace had pushed Victoire von Schroeder into one of the fountains and walked away in a great huff. The party somewhat ended after that (everyone saw it and no doubt it would be all over the Internet via Facebook or Twitter by now). About an hour after that, her father picked up Victoire and sped away.

If had been several years ago when the girls' friendship was first starting out, Kaiba probably would be thanking whatever higher power there was in this universe (a rare time he would acknowledge such a thing possibly existing). But over the years, he had come to realize the pink haired girl was actually pretty nice. Well, nice as Ziegfried's daughter could be.

Also, there was a simple fact that the girls were equals. The two could understand each other in way that most kids wouldn't be able to. The years had been good to their friendship, as reporters had speculated friendly dealings between the two companies in the future because of this.

So why now off all times, did this happen?

Finally deciding his course of action, the Kaiba Corp CEO knocked on the door several times. He was ready to do something that at times frightened him a lot more than a room full of angry shareholders, parent his teenage daughter who didn't think she needed it.

He waited for several moments, no response forthcoming tried again.

"Candace, I know you're in there."

There was still silence as he went on.

"Your mother told me what happened at the party. Can I come in?"

Once again it was all quiet and Seto was about to give up and walk away until a muffled reply came out.

"_Okay."_

A bit hesitant, the brunet opened the door into the big, but somewhat simple room of his daughter. The main colors were mainly blue and white, carrying a certain degree of simplicity to the room. There didn't seem to be much character to the room aside from a couple of family pictures and the huge TV with an incredible amount of movies.

His daughter was lying face down on the bed, said face currently planted firmly into one of the pillows. She didn't seem to be sobbing, but the last time he remembered seeing his daughter cry was…he shuddered at that bleak memory. He did not want to dig _that_ up.

He made a short walk and sat on the bed with a sigh. Knowing very well the direct way was not going to work, he decided to try and work it in.

"How are you feeling?"

Candace seemed to groan out her reply with her head still in the pillow.

"_Like I've done something I'm probably going to regret."_

Seto felt a faint degree of amusement at those words, but repressed it as it was not the time.

"Well, you've certainly inherited your mother's conscience."

"_That's what Mr. Muto says."_

She still wasn't coming out of the pillow, so Kaiba tried another avenue of the conversation.

"Although, I do admit I'm surprised you could get that upset to push someone into a fountain, let alone Victoire."

That got Candace's expression up out of obscurity, her face not wet but definitely troubled.

"It wasn't like I intended for her to go into the water. I aimed a punch in her face and it hit, I kind of forgot about the fountain right behind me."

Seto Kaiba raised an eyebrow at his daughter, as if asking 'Seriously?'

The teen duelist relented at that.

"Okay, I noticed the fountain was there. But I was just so….so MAD, I didn't really think it through. All I wanted to do was just punch her!"

Seto sighed as he made eye contact with his daughter.

"I understand that, better than you know. Every time I have to talk to your godfather, for example (he was still wondering how in hell's name did he get so drunk to agree for Pegasus to be her godfather). But if you regret it, why didn't you just apologize to her?"

Candace looked a little bit lost at that.

"That might have worked when I was younger Dad, but...it's just been different. We're not kids anymore, some days I don't even see how I could have been friends with someone like her. We may have been talking for a while, but we don't really connect like we used to. We've just…grown apart, I guess."

Kaiba was about to open his mouth and ask why, but then closed it as he realized what she said.

The both of them were technically heirs to their own corporations, but other than that the two did develop more differences over the years. Victoire was very much the posh young lady who was seen as quite rebellious by the press, very emotional and over the top at times. She was always known to be surrounded by a crowd of people at own her parties.

Candace, by comparison, wasn't that girly (something Kaiba had to admit relieved him when she passed the princess phase). She was much more serious about things than Victoire and was a lot harder to know. But to the small circle, she was very sincere.

And despite arguments she could get into with him at times, him and his daughter had always shared a natural understanding of each other. Even as a little girl, she was able to understand him better than some of his associates. That isn't to say he loved her more than Drake, but there was just something about her that just mirrored himself. He knew who he was going to leave his title of CEO of Kaiba Corp someday and he wasn't that worried about it.

Ziegfried and Victoire's relationship was currently going down the drain from what he heard. Not that it pleased him, it was sad to here that about any parent-child relationship.

The sad truth was they had very little tying them together. He had seen it happen in some relationships in his dealings with high society. There comes a time when people just go their separate ways without realizing it. It was the same way for Gozaburo (after all this time his mind took a dark turn when he thought of his stepfather) and his wife; he found out after that little detour during the Battle City Finals that after Noah died his wife just couldn't take it anymore. They had grown apart long ago and the only thing that kept the woman with her husband was their son. Once the funeral was done, her bags were packed and no one had heard from her since.

Seto Kaiba was incredibly thankful he never had to go through that. While death was not a pleasant thing for a child to go through, it is better than to have a person alive and to simply stop caring. He couldn't imagine what it would be like for his brother, Kisara, or his children to do that.

He probably would have hung himself….on second thought, a bullet to the head would probably be quicker.

The brunet shivered at those morbid thoughts as his eyes met his daughter, sparked with knowing that he was thinking of things not pleasant. It really was remarkable the way she understood him, without even a word.

He gave a small smile to show he was alright and back in the real world, she smiled back though still a little wary of where his thoughts were leaning.

He spoke in the gentlest tone he knew.

"You're going to be okay."

She nodded her head.

"I know."

He sighed in some relief, some in partial irony.

"I guess this is one of the times I'm glad you have other friends beside Victoire. Even if they do have the last names Muto, Wheeler, and Ishtar."

She fixed him with a reproving look.

"Sully isn't that bad."

He made an acknowledging nod at that.

"True, but her father isn't necessarily my favorite person."

The look went up a couple levels at that.

"Dad, your list of favorite people probably doesn't exceed your two hands."

Her father smirks.

"Haven't you known me long enough to realize that?"

"As I recall, I've known you all my life."

The tow smiled and laughed at the small joke. Seto took a deep step and finally asked what was really on his mind.

"Still, what did Victoire say that got you so mad that you punched her like that?"

And with that, his daughter's smile died as he shrunk at those words. She bit the corner of her lip (a bad habit, but one she had done for a while) as she broke the eye contact her father and her had been sharing.

The change was so strange, so foreign to him. This was perhaps one of the few times he really had no idea what was going on in his daughter's mind. And perhaps it was meant to be that way.

He tried to smile in a way that assured her she wasn't in trouble, much like when she was a child and did something really small but got worked up over it.

"If this is one of those girl things that I'm not going to understand…."

She hurriedly nodded her head, quick for this topic to end.

"It is."

At that, the father stood up.

"Well, I've said my piece. Just don't forget we're all worried."

That brought a smile back to the teen's face.

"I won't."

One last smile shared as Seto walked to the door. Opening it, to his surprise Drake was there in his casual T shirt and messy white locks he had inherited from his mother. Blue eyes widened in surprise as he was not expecting his father to be there. The young boy bowed his head and he tried to contain his stammer.

"Father…"

Seto smiled at his son, relaxing the boy four years his sister's junior. He turned back to Candace's direction.

"I'll leave you two alone."

He stepped aside for Drake, who went in to walk over to the exact spot where his father had been just moments ago. Said father shut the door behind him, walking away from the room.

_You're not alone though. You're never alone, Candace._

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**V.E. Well, this was longer than my last couple of oneshots. Took longer to write though. **

**So Pegasus is Candace's godfather, yes there was alcohol and Kisara involved with that.**

**As to why she punched Victoire…..well, you'll have to wait and see if I ever write that next generation fic of mine. For now, this will have to do.**

**Please review.**


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